Scarfing apparatus



Jan. 16, 1951 J, ANDERSON 2,538,074

SCARFING APPARATUS Filed May 25, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 "Min INVENTOR M BY zhwz a ATTORNEYS Jan. 16, 1951 J. L. ANDERSON SCARFING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 25, 1946 \NVENTOR M j 44x1 WM M ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 16, 1951 UNITED SCARFING APPARATUS James L. Anderson, Closter, N. J assignor to Air Reduction Company, Incorporated, a corporation of New York Application May 23, 1946, Serial No. 671,855

. 3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in scarfing machines, i. e. machines for removing surface metal from billets, blooms, ingots, and the like, by projecting a row of oxygen jets against the surface of the work at an angle to the surface while the surface metal is at kindling temperature and while the work-piece is moving relative to the oxygen jets to thereby progressively remove the surface metal by thermo-chemical action.

scarfing machines usually have a shield which encloses that portion of the billet or other workpiece which is just in advance of the tips of the scarfing torches to catch the slag particles which are blown off by the scarfing oxygen. The slag includes a mixture of oxides and melted metal; and unless some expedient is used to prevent it, some of the slag particles stick to the inner surface of the shield and the rolling mill parts where they eventually accumulate in large volume and build up salamanders that have to be removed manually.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved scarfing machine in which the accumulation of slag on the inner surface of the shield is prevented.

According to the invention a water curtain is provided in advance of the tips of the scarfing torches so arranged that all of the slag particles which are blown off the work-piece by the scarfing oxygen, whether they be slag particles that are deflected away from the work surface at an angle to the surface or slag particles that are blown laterally off the surface, come in contact with the water of the curtain. The water chills or cools the slag particles sufficiently to prevent them from sticking to the shield. The slag particles therefore drop from the inner surface of the shield into the slag pit from which they may be carried off in any suitable way, as by a stream of water.

A scarfin machine embodying the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section through the machine, the section being taken on the line |-l of Fig. 3;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through some of the water jets of the water-curtain taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing how the slag particles blown laterally off the work surface by the scarfing jets pass through the water jets;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 4 and 5 are a side elevation and an end view respectively of one of the water nozzle tips.

Referring to the drawings, a billet or other workpiece to be scarfed is represented at W. It is supported on rolls, one of which is shown at i I! in Fig. 3. The rolls may be power-driven feed rolls adapted to move the billet past the scarfing tip or tips, or the movement of the billet may be effected by any other suitable means. In the particular machine shown in the drawings there are four scarfing tips represented at I I, l2, l3 and It, respectively (Fig. 1), adapted to simultaneously scarf all four faces of the billet, but the invention also contemplates a machine in which only one, two, or three faces of the billet are scarfed at one time, The scarfing tips may be of conventional block type and have been represented in the drawings more or less diagrammatically, but it will be understood that each tip is adapted to project preheating flames on the surface to be scarfed by it to bring the surface metal to kindling temperature and also to project a row of jets of scarfing oxygen onto the surface at an angle to the surface. In Fig. 3 the arrows l5 and I6 indicate the inclination toward the upper and lower faces of the billet of the scarfing jets projected by the upper and lower torch tips I! and i3, respectively. The movement of the billet is toward the discharge faces of the torch tips and in a direction opposite to the direction in which the scarfing jets are projected, as indi-- cated by the arrow I! in Fig. 3. In some types of scarfing machines the oxygen jets are directed onto the surface to be scarfed not only at an angle to the surface as just described but also at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the billet or other work-piece, so that the slag, instead of continuously accumulating ahead of the row of scarfing jets, is blown laterally off the surface. The inclination of the scarfing jets which causes the slag to be thus blown laterally of the surface is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, it being understood that in this figure the torch tips are viewed from the rear.

The portion of the billet just in advance of the torch tips is usually enclosed by a shield represented at [8 in Figs. 1 and 2. This is the shield previously referred to that catches the slag particles blown off by the scarfing oxygen and which usually accumulate on the inner surface of the shield unless some precaution is taken to prevent it.

According to the invention there is provided within the shield l8 a water manifold l9 which may be mounted in any suitable way as by brackets 20 which support the manifold from the side Walls of the shield. The manifold may be of any suitable shape depending upon how many faces of the billet are to be scarfed at one time. The particular manifold shown in the drawings has three portions l9a, I91) and E90 extending transversely across three faces of the billet and forming three sides of a rectangle, Cooling water is supplied to the manifold through an inlet pipe 2|. The portion i911 of the manifold supplies water to two sets of nozzles, the nozzles of one set being shown at 22 and those of the other set being shown at 23, Similarly, the portion 190 of the manifold supplies water to two other sets of nozzles, those of one set being shown at 2 and those of the other set being shown at 25. All of the nozzles are arranged to project water jets J inwardly in the direction of the billet through discharge tips 26.

The nozzles 22 and 23 project two rows of water jets downwardly across the opposite side faces of the billet and the nozzles 25 and 25 project two rows of water jets horizontally across the upper and lower faces of the billet as shown in Fig. 1. Thus, the nozzles spra water transversely of the billet and produce a transverse water curtain, i. e. a water-curtain which extends transversely of the axis of the billet. The Water manifold is so positioned relative to the scarfing tips, say about two feet in advance of them, that the slag particles deflected from the faces of the billet as well as the slag particles blown laterally oil the faces by the scarfing jets, during the scarfing operation, will come in contact with the water of the water-curtain.

The nozzle tips 26 are flattened as shown at 2? in Figs. 4 and to form slot-like discharge orifices 28. Each jet of water is therefore substantially flat or ribbon-like. The st-llke discharge orifices of the tips of each set of nozzles are so oriented that the ribbon-like jets of water produced by them are substantially parallel and slant as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 so that they resemble louver slats, the direction of slant of the water jets of each set being such that the slag particles moving toward them strike them substantially at right angles to their planes. The slag particles blown oil the billet by the oxygen jets will therefore usually come in contact with two or more of the water jets and hence be sulficientl chilled or cooled to prevent them from sticking to the inner wall of the shield 58.

It will be seen from Fi s. 1 and 2 that the slag particles which are blown off laterally to one side of the billet by the laterally inclined scarfing jets of the upper and lower torch tips, 1, e. the particles which are blown off toward the left as viewed in these figures, as indicated by the arrows 29 in Fig. 2, can come in contact with two or more of the water jets J produced by the nozzles 22 due to the louver-slat arrangement of the jets. The scarfing jets of the upper and lower torch tips H and 13 will cause some of the slag particles to be deflected away from the upper and lower faces of the billet as indicated by the arrows 3E! and 3! respectively in Fig. 3. The upwardly deflected slag particles, represented by the arrows 38, can come in contact with two or more of the horizontal water jets J produced by the nozzles 24. Similarly, the downwardly deflected slag, represented by the arrows 3!, can come in contact with two or more of the horizontal water jets J produced by the nozzles 25. The slag particles that are blown laterally by the lateral inclination of the scarfin jets of the side torch tips I2 and M, i. e. the slag particles that are blown downwardly by these scariing jets as viewed in Fig. 1, can come in contact with two or more of the horizontal water jets produced by the nozzles 25. The slag particles that are deflected away from the left face of the billet by the scarfing jets of the torch tip l4 (corresponding to the deflected slag represented by the arrows 30 and 35 in Fig. 3) can come in contact with two or more of the water jets produced by the nozzles 22, and the particles which are similarly deflected from the right face of the billet by the scarfing jets of the torch tip i2 can come in contact with two or more of the water jets produced by the nozzles 23.

It will therefore be seen that all of the slag particles blown off the billet b the scarfing jets, whether they be particles that are deflected away from the work surface at an angle to the surface, or whether they be particles that are blown off to the side of the work-piece due to the lateral inclination of the scarfing jets, come in contact with the water of the water-curtain and can pass through two or more of the water jets due to the louver-slat arrangement of the jets and are sufliciently chilled or cooled by the water so that they will not adhere to the inner wall of the shield. Some of the slag particles will usually pass through the water jets in the direction in which the slag particles are moving until they strike the wall of the shield beyond, whereas some of the particles striking the water jets will usually be deflected by them and be carried along by the water jets in the direction in which the water is moving, but in either case the slag particles are sufliciently cooled so that they will not adhere to any objectionable extent on the inner walls of the shield. The lag particles which strike the inner surface of the shield drop into the slag pit from which they may be carried off by any suitable means, not shown in the drawings, such as a water stream. If desired, water may be sprayed on the inner surface of the shield as shown at 32 as a further precaution against adherence of the slag particles to the shield.

The arrangement of wate jets shown in the drawing is appropriate for use on scarfing machines adapted to scarf all four faces of a billet or the like simultaneously. It will be understood, however, that if only one face is to be scarfed-say the upper faceonly two sets of nozzles are required when the scarfing jets have a lateral inclination as Well as a downward inclination, the required nozzles in this case being the nozzles 22 and 2 1.

I claim:

1. In a machine for scarfmg billets, blooms, and the like, having scarfing means for projectingscarfing oxygen against a surface of the workpiece at an angle to said surface, and means for moving the work-piece past the scarfing means, the combination therewith of a series of nozzles arranged in a row extending at right angles to said surface of the work-piece for projecting transversely across such surface a series of flat parallel water jets each of which is inclined laterally at an angle to such surface, the jets thus producing a transverse water-curtain which extends across said surface of the work-piece in a general plane which is at right angles to such surface and through two or more jets of which slag particles can successively pass that are deflected from such surface, and means for deliver-- ing cooling water to said nozzles.

2. In a machine for scarflng billets, blooms, and the like, having scarfing means for projecting scarfing oxygen at an angle against one surface of the work-piece, scarfing means for projecting scarfing oxygen at an angle against a contiguous surface of the work-piece and laterally toward the edge of the work-piece that lies between said two surfaces, and means for moving the work-piece past the scarfing means, the combination therewith of a series of nozzles arranged in a row extending at right angles to the first-mentioned surface of the work-piece for projecting transversely across such surface a series of flat parallel water jets each of which is inclined laterally at an angle to such surface, the jets thus producing a transverse water-curtain which extends across said first-named surface of the work-piece in a general plane which is at right angles to such surface and through two or more jets of which slag particles can successively pass that are deflected from such surface and through two or more jets of which slag particles can successively pass that are blown laterally off said contiguous surface of the work-piece by the scarfing means which scarfs the contiguous surface, and means for delivering cooling water to said nozzles.

3. In a machine for scarfing billets, blooms, and the like, having scarfing means for projecting scarfing oxygen against a surface of the workpiece at an angle to said surface and also toward an edge thereof lying between said surface and a contiguous surface, and means for moving the work-piece past the scarfing means, the combination therewith of two series of nozzles, the nozzles of one of the series being arranged in a row extending at right angles to the surface being scarfed for projecting transversely across such surface a series of flat parallel water jets each of which is inclined laterally at an angle to such surface, said jets thus producing a transverse water-curtain which extends across the surface being scarfed in a general plane which is at right angles tosuch surface and through two or more jets of which the slag particles can successively pass that are deflected from such surface, and the nozzles of the other series being arranged in a row extending at right angles to said contiguous surface of the work-piece for projecting transversely across such contiguous surface a second series of flat parallel water jets each of which is inclined laterally at an angle to such contiguous surface, the jets of said second series thus producing a transverse water-curtain which extends across said contiguous surface of the work-piece in a general plane which is at right angles to such surface and through two or more jets of which the slag particles can successively pass that are blown laterally off of the work surface that is being scarfed.

JAMES L. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,972,001 Witham et al Aug. 28, 1934 2,125,174 Jones July 26, 1938 2,218,141 Adams et a1 Oct. 15', 1940 2,228,031 Harsch Jan. 7, 1941 2,306,370 Anderson Dec. 29, 1942 2,424,270 Ehemann, Jr July 22, 1947 2,465,297 Thompson et al. Mar. 22, 1949 

